The Buffalo Sabres face the Tampa Bay Lightning with both teams off to strong starts to the season. The Sabres have a 7-3 record and are in second place in the Atlantic Division while the Lightning have a 6-4-1 and with three wins in their last four games, have leaped into third place in the Atlantic Division. Both teams are looking to build off of strong starts in the division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Sabres are off to a great start to the season with their offense looking unstoppable, scoring 4.30 goals per game. Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, and Jeff Skinner have scored 16 goals and 18 assists to lead the top two lines but the entire offense has stepped up. Victor Olofsson, Casey Mittelstadt, and Kyle Okposo have scored 10 goals and 13 assists while defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has added six goals and eight assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has carried the Sabres but the defense has also stepped up, allowing only 2.80 goals per game. Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power have combined for 1.4 defensive point shares and 35 blocked shots to lead the top two pairings but the rest of the unit has also played well with Lawrence Pilut, Casey Fitzgerald, and the rest of the defense creating turnovers in the defensive zone and limiting shots on the net. With the Sabres playing the seco nd game of a back-to-back, the hope is that goaltender Eric Comrie can improve as he has a .898 save percentage and a 3.29 goals-against average on 225 shots.